“Good intentions, effective results”

Throughout Africa, millions of people live in conditions scarcely imaginable to most Americans. It is too simple to blame the African leaders. Africa has been also the victim of good intentions and half-promises from the West. We should all applaud Tony Blair for making Africa the centerpiece of the G-8 summit at Gleneagles. However, the chief proposal that is supposed to address African needs is suspect. The United Kingdom is pushing for an “international finance facility” that would enable to increase aid to Africa. But such provision lacks of a mechanism which ensures that Western funds would actually meet the Africans’ needs.
In many regions of Africa, the $50 billions would merely fund ineffective projects for Africans and further entrench corruption. Therefore, we’d better comply with what was discussed in Monterrey 2002. The African countries will see that aid is increased when they implement political and economic reforms. The British project undermines Monterrey’s conference by continuing to foster the aid system. No nation has ever spent its way out of poverty by receiving foreign aids.
There has to be an alliance consisting of African leaders who wish to open their economies and establish transparent nations. In Gleneagles, the G-8 countries should abide by the principles of Monterrey, taken up by the Millennium Challenge Account and the African Growth and Opportunity Act.